Zacks Investment\nManagement provides insight into the biggest news stories, and key factors that\nwe believe are currently impacting the market such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early Signs of\nInflation Appearing \u2013 <\/strong>For most people, inflation is a pretty vague concept\nleft to economists and market wonks. That is, until inflation hits home. U.S.\nconsumers may start to notice price upticks on everyday items. Proctor &\nGamble announced last week that it would start to charge more for household\nstaples this fall, pushing prices of everyday goods like Gillette razors, diapers,\nand detergents higher. In providing rationale for higher prices, Proctor &\nGamble cited a common factor influencing many companies across many sectors:\nhigher costs for raw materials. With demand returning to the market faster than\nexpected, and with supply chains still under strain, the cost of input\nmaterials like resin and pulp have been on the rise, and the cost of\ntransporting goods is also feeling the pressure. Eventually, these costs tend\nto trickle down to the consumer level, and Proctor & Gamble\u2019s announcement\n\u2013 which followed a similar announcement from their rival Kimberly Clark \u2013 is\nevidence of this price inflation taking place. Small businesses tend to feel\nthese pressures more than multinationals, because small players tend to have\nless leverage to push back on higher costs and less leeway to pass those costs\nonto consumers.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies!<\/a><\/strong> Is the U.S. Jobs Market Stronger Than Most Think? <\/strong>Here’s a stat that suggests the U.S. jobs market has a long way to go: The country has 8.4 million fewer jobs than it did pre-pandemic, and the unemployment rate is north of 6%. But a closer look suggests that the U.S. labor market may be substantially stronger than many people think. In the Fed\u2019s recently published Beige book, a common theme emerged: employers reporting shortages of workers and issues staffing. Areas with a shortage of workers include drivers, entry-level, low wage workers, child care, nurses, and information technology. In other words, a fairly diverse range of job openings, which one would think suggests that if someone really wants a job in the U.S. economy today, they could find one. The opposite appears to be true at the current moment, however. The labor force is estimated to be 5 million lower than it was before the pandemic, as many people dropped out of the labor force for a variety of reasons \u2013 boomers retiring, parents needing to stay home for child care, people fearful of catching and spreading the virus, and\/or those who are content living on expanded unemployment benefits. The bottom line, in our view, is that the U.S. economy and jobs market may actually be on firmer footing than most believe.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Yet) Another Reason\nNot to Bet Against the U.S. Economy \u2013 <\/strong>Another area of the U.S. economy where perception may be\ndisconnected from reality: new business formation. Many people may expect that\nthe U.S. economy lost millions of jobs and hundreds of thousands of businesses\npermanently over the last year, creating a hole that could take years to fill.\nBut the reality is that the hole is being filled far faster than most\nanticipate. Case in point: applications for new businesses hit nearly 1.4\nmillion in Q1 2021, which marks the second highest quarterly total in over 15\nyears. Applications for businesses that could employ multiple workers also\napproached its highest quarterly tally, indicating that entrepreneurs have been\nemboldened by what they see as an opportunity for new growth. To be fair, some\nof these business start-ups may be because some people cannot find the jobs\nthey want, or because they do not want to work in a crowded office or space\nwith a lot of public interaction. But the takeaway is still clear: The U.S.\neconomy is still pushing ahead, with innovators and new growth opportunities forming\nin the wake of a major recession. Another reason not to bet against the U.S.\neconomy.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The COVID-19 pandemic impacted markets and economies around the world, and now that we are finding new ways to adjust, you never know where the market will be headed in just a few months\u2019 time. Finding the right investment strategy can make a huge difference when managing the highs and lows of the market. To help you learn more about strategies that cater to different investment objectives, we have created our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies.5<\/sup> Inflation fears as consumer staples prices set to rise, job market stronger than most think, business start-ups rise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10410,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9527\/revisions\/10410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a> \u00a0
You can\u2019t predict how certain factors like inflation will impact the market. Yes, demand is returning faster than expected and more opportunities are growing, but you never know how the pandemic will continue to affect and shape the economy in other ways. Knowing the right investment strategy can make a huge difference in preparing your long-term investments for success and helping you navigate these challenging and unprecedented times.
\u00a0
To help you learn more about strategies that cater to different investment objectives, we have created our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies.\u00a0Our Dean\u2019s List describes four of our investment strategies that are ranked in the top of their respective classes by Morningstar<\/strong>\u00a0(as of 3\/31\/21).2<\/sup>
\u00a0
If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn about five of our top strategies, click on the link below.
\u00a0
<\/a>Learn More About Our Top-Ranked Strategies!<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong>
<\/a> _______________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0
Our Dean\u2019s List describes four of our investment strategies that are ranked in the top of their respective classes, according to Morningstar (as of 3\/31\/21).5<\/sup>\u00a0If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more about these strategies, click on the link below to see how they could potentially benefit you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"